Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman reviews Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana
- Stresses the importance of carrying out awareness activities & need for States to release Premium Subsidy on time to ensure timely settlement of claims
A presentation was made by the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & FW wherein the journey of PMFBY since Kharif 2016 as well as challenges encountered and the status of implementation for the current Kharif 2020 crop season, especially after the Revamp of PMFBY, were discussed.
The Finance Minister highlighted the need of carrying out awareness activities to ensure dissemination of information among all farmers in view of Scheme becoming voluntary for all farmers and the need for States to release Premium Subsidy on time to ensure timely settlement of claims. Sitharaman suggested that stringent follow up should be done with States where the subsidy is pending especially those which are not implementing the Scheme in Kharif 2020 with a view to ensuring payment of all pending claims to farmers at the earliest.
Secretary DAC&FW informed that leveraging technology was one of the main focus areas in revamped PMFBY and the Department was working towards migrating to technology assessment of yield by 2023 and survey would be conducted after Rabi-2020-21 to ascertain the impact of the revamped PMFBY.
Finance Minister reviews implementation of Insurance Scheme for Health workers fighting COVID 19 announced under PMGKP; emphasizes the need for speedy settlement and benefit reaching out to the nominees at the earliest:
Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman chaired a meeting to review the implementation of the Insurance Scheme for Health workers fighting COVID 19 announced under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) through video conferencing here today. The meeting was attended by senior officials from the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and New India Assurance Company Limited.
A presentation was made by the Chairman & Managing Director of New India Assurance providing details about the highlight of the scheme and its status of implementation as on date.
Officials from the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare provided an overview of the mechanism being followed with State nodal authorities to expedite the claims, also highlighting the issues being faced while reaching out to the family of deceased as well as obtaining the legal heir certificate.
Of the 147 intimations received to date, claim documents have been submitted for 87, out of which 15 have been paid, 4 approved for payment while 13 are under examination. Further, a total of 55 claims have been found ineligible out of which 35 claims fall outside the scope of the cover like police personnel, municipal workers not related to hospitals, people from education, revenue departments, etc. while another 20 claims submitted have the cause of death other than COVID-19 like cardiac arrest, etc.
During the meeting, the Finance Minister highlighted the importance of a speedy settlement and emphasized the need for the benefit reaching out to the nominees at the earliest.